Google not giving up on China, hunts for new business

As the never-ending dispute between Google and the Chinese government continues, the world’s biggest search company is determined to go headstrong in a bid to find new business in the lucrative country that has “tons of untapped opportunity.”

Elliott Ng, Google’s director and head of product management for China, said the company remains to be profitable, with a record high in December last year, according to a report from WSJ. Even though Google is still considered a small player in China, it is poised to continue growing its business in the country.

“the company would not be changing its approach towards China when it comes to Internet search.” Instead, it will focus on “hunting acquisitions that can support the company’s initiatives, particularly in mobile and e-commerce applications.”

Currently, Google China is centered on servicing global operations, focusing on selling ads to Chinese companies that are looking to export their products overseas, and on new types of display advertising for the country’s booming Internet market, according to a Google spokeswoman.

Michael Clendenin, founder and managing director of RedTech Advisors (China) LLC, said Google could still make its presence felt in China, either through proxies or through joint ventures.

Clendenin said:

“It makes sense for them to look at China not just for the pure play China opportunity, but for them to scoop up technologies that could be applicable in other markets,”

One reason for Google’s continued success in China is the explosive growth of the overall online ad market in the country. According to Clendenin, the online ad market grew approximately 46% in 2010 and is expected to grow 40% in 2011. Google may not gain a significant share any time soon but this growth is definitely a good sign for the world-dominating search engine. After all, a small piece in a huge pie is still pretty big–-we’re talking about the world’s biggest Internet user base here with over 457 million users.